


The Killing City Tour

by AstralVortex



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Character Death, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Gen, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, city
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24992698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstralVortex/pseuds/AstralVortex
Summary: Ten students tragically died at Hope's Peak. Eleven died painful deaths in the Neo World Program. Thirteen died in the catastrophe that was the Ultimate Academy. Why not salt the wounds by reviving the fallen and throwing them into a similar scenario?Kaede Akamatsu finds that her plane has landed in a strange walled-off city, and finds herself trapped in a new death game with many previous blackened and victims. What new truths are to be uncovered?On hiatus (Read notes inside)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: I have made the decision to write the majority of this story on my own before I continue updating, so it's been put on a hiatus for now. I know it's going to be a long wait, but I figured that writing a killing game fic like this requires a meticulous amount of planning and I could easily make plotholes and disrupt the flow of the fic if I were to continue updating chapters as I write them. Hope you understand.

**Hello, fellow readers! Welcome to my new story that I'm probably actually going to update!**

**I'm crossposting this on both and Archive of our Own. However, I plan to include basic diagrams such as maps in the Archive of our Own story, whereas it's near impossible to do that properly on because it doesn't allow images.**

**I'll try to explain everything as best as I can so the diagrams aren't completely necessary, but I have cues in here that shows when a diagram or map would be inserted. If you're on FFN and feel like you absolutely need to see the diagram, head on over to Ao3. They're not particularly good diagrams, but I feel it helps visualize where they are better.**

**And by the way, diagrams will only show up when a new area is introduced, or when an area is relevant to a murder during an investigation. I'm not going to make diagrams of every single area I write about.**

**With that being said, enjoy!**

**Note: I have edited this chapter to be in third-person perspective. As such, while most scenes may be near identical to what they were before, many scenes will be slightly different. At its core, the events are basically the same as the previous version of the prologue, so there is no need to reread it if you have already read the previous version. There is one small plot-relevant thing that I added, but I'll explain it in the author's note for the next chapter in the event that you don't want to read this chapter a second time.**

* * *

**Act 0 (Prologue)**

* * *

Kaede Akamatsu's chest tensed up. The intimidating appearance of airport security laid in front of her, with nothing but a slowly diminishing queue between it and her. Her heart beat so strongly that she could feel it ripple through her body.

However, security wasn't what she was nervous about. There were two other reasons why she should be nervous.

First, this would be her first time flying alone. Being only seventeen, this was the first time she wasn't with her parents or a relative for a flight. She knew that there was a very small chance that anything of note would happen, but it was still nerve wracking.

Second, the reason she was flying. Just a few weeks ago, she had recieved a letter in the main, addressed to her. Not her parents, not her siblings, but to her specifically.

_To Ms. Kaede Akamatsu,_

_We at Hope's Peak Academy are glad to inform you that you have been selected to attend this spring based on your talents and achievements. As a result, we invite you to join us as the_ _**Ultimate Pianist**_ _._

The letter didn't say much else, but everyone in Japan knows about Hope's Peak Academy. It has a reputation for being the best high school in the country, maybe even the world. If you graduated from Hope's Peak, you'd be set for life. However, it was only for talented students. You can't even send in an application; the school had to scout you based on your talents and achievements, and each year only sixteen students would be accepted. Kaede couldn't help but think about how lucky she was to get the invitation, but of course, that burden came with a lot of stress.

What other Ultimates would she encounter when she arrives at the academy? She figured she's a rather friendly person, so she felt that she'd be able to make friends with just about anyone. Of course… there are always those who refuse to socialize, but she could deal with that when and if the problem arises.

After getting through security, she dragged her piano-themed suitcase through the terminal, approaching Gate 6.

Kaede plopped down on one of the seats in the terminal and began texting a few of her friends.

**A: Are you at the airport?**

**K: Yeah, I'm here. Waiting for my flight.**

**A: I'm so excited for you! :) Make sure to tell me if you meet anyone famous. Maybe we could video chat with them?**

**K: Sure, I don't see why not.**

A young girl around her age walked up to her. "Um, hello?" she asked.

Kaede didn't look up, figuring that it was just some random person she'd never see again. "Can I help you?"

"You're going to Hope's Peak, right?"

That caught her attention rather quickly as she shut off her phone and stuck it in her pocket.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you going to Hope's Peak Academy?" She asked.

Kaede finally got a look at her face as she stared up in amazement. "Oh my god, are you Sayaka Maizono?"

The girl giggled and put a hand up to her mouth. "Yup!"

Sayaka Maizono was the lead vocalist of a world-renown pop group, even though she was still around Kaede's age.

"I-I'm a huge fan! You're even cuter in person!" Kaede shouted, amazement apparent on her face.

Kaede smiled, hoping that Sayaka wouldn't be put off by her fangirling.

The idol giggled again and reached out to shake her hand. "Thanks!" She said. "Are you Kaede Akamatsu?"

"You've heard of me?" she asked. Of course, Kaede was more well-known than a normal student, but she knew she wasn't world famous. It threw her for a loop to have someone who guys and girls all throughout Japan fawn over recognize her.

"Of course!" Sayaka cheerfully replied. "I saw your name and photo on the Hope's Peak Acceptance thread!"

The Hope's Peak Acceptance thread? Kaede didn't check that, but if Sayaka was on the same flight, looked at the acceptance thread, and was her age, that could only mean one thing

"Did you get into Hope's Peak too?" Kaede asked.

"You didn't look at the forums?"

She stared in disbelief as Kaede discreetly shook her head.

"I don't want to let rumors and stories by random internet trolls bias my opinions," she said. "With Hope's Peak Academy, you always have famous people being accepted. As such, there are people who hate on or love them for their opinions, appearances, past mistakes and accomplishments, and reputation. I just wanted to instead determine my own opinions on them based on what I'd personally learn about them."

"Oh, I didn't even think of that. Well, I guess that just shows what kind of person you are. It's quite obvious, but I got admitted as the **Ultimate Pop Sensation** ," she said, smiling.

She would've initiated a longer conversation, but another person's voice from across the terminal blared in her ears. "HEY! IT'S SAYAKA MAIZONO!"

Heads turned as everyone rushed up to her in a stampede.

"You should run." she said.

"Eh?"

It was too late. Even though they weren't interested in Kaede, she ended up getting pushed to the floor and trampled by several people. She felt a shoe briefly step on her back as everyone surrounded Sayaka.

"HEY!" Kaede shouted, trying to push herself up and clawing herself out of the crowd. She then walked to the other side of the gate. She couldn't imagine being that famous.

Soon after that happened, it was boarding time. Sayaka was just like her, with a first class ticket, but it just so happened that they were assigned to the same row and they'd be sitting across from each other. Once they got onto the plane and made their way to the first class section, they took their seats. Because it was only a two-hour flight, the seats weren't the luxurious private rooms that you'd see hyped on the Internet, but were still very comfortable.

"Are you okay?" Sayaka asked.

"I got stepped on" she replied. "But I'm fine."

"My hand's sore from giving autographs." she chuckled.

"How do you handle that?" Kaede asked. "Seems like a burden."

"It is. It's flattering, and I love my fans, but it's exhausting having to deal with that so often."

Kaede laughed as she buckled her seatbelt, but soon after that… everything became… kind of fuzzy...

* * *

_...huh?_

Kaede blinked open her eyes as she looked around. The entire plane was dark, and most of all, it was completely quiet. Did she fall asleep? If she did… she didn't even remember falling asleep. It was as if… there was no transition between earlier and now.

She could easily tell that time had passed and she hadn't just drifted off for a few seconds. The window shutter on her left was closed, even though she didn't recall shutting it. Most of the lights in the cabin were shut off, but there was still enough to see, albeit with a creepy atmosphere.

Did… did they land? It's completely plausible that she could've slept through the flight. It was only a few hours. But she didn't think that she would be able to sleep through the ruckus and shaking of takeoff and landing. Looking around, she noticed that even though there were a few people in first class with them, only Sayaka and her remained in the cabin. And she didn't hear any noise from the people back in economy class. They must've gotten off already.

That wasn't very important. From what she could understand, they had landed.

She abrasively grabbed the window shutter and pulled upwards, showing that they were indeed on the ground, and that it was now nighttime.

Kaede turned her head to Sayaka's seat, fully expecting for her to be gone, but she was still there, dozing off.

"Sayaka," Kaede said, shaking her shoulder. The idol moaned softly as she opened her eyes.

"Huh?" Sayaka asked. "What? What happened?"

"I think we've landed." Kaede said.

"Already?" the idol asked, stretching. "Did we even take off?"

"You too, huh?" She asked. "I fell asleep, but I don't even remember how I fell asleep."

"Let's just get off." Sayaka said. "We're probably doing the workers an inconvenience by staying here longer than we're supposed to."

Kaede nodded as the two of them stood up and opened the overhead compartments, but all they were greeted with was an empty storage container.

"What?" Kaede asked. "Where's my luggage?"

"Mine's missing too…" Sayaka said. "Those fanboys probably stole it. It's not unbelievable."

"But my stuff's gone too. There's no reason to steal my stuff. I'm not as famous as you." Kaede sighed. "For now, we should just report it to security. There's nothing we can do standing around like this."

"What about the shuttle?" Sayaka asked.

Supposedly, they were supposed to board a shuttle to go to the academy when they arrived at the airport.

"It'll wait," Kaede replied. "There's only supposed to be sixteen or so of us in one class. Waiting for two people shouldn't be that big of a problem."

Sayaka nodded as they made their way down the aisle. Every single person in first and economy class was gone, along with any flight attendants or cleaners. Luckily for them, the door was still open, so they made their way off the plane and onto the jet bridge.

After walking through the tunnel, they arrived at the gate of an airport. It definitely was a different airport than the one that they had left, but there was something amiss.

"Where is everyone?" Kaede asked. The entire gate was empty. No one was waiting for the next flight, no one was working at the counter or the restaurants across the hall, and no one got off the plane like them. No security guards, no one to report their missing baggage to. They were alone.

"This is really freaking me out," Kaede said.

"Um," Sayaka began. "Let's look around and figure out what's going on."

She nodded as they stepped out into the hallway. Everything was completely barren.

Kaede gulped as they made their way to the baggage claim. She hadn't checked any luggage, but if she had, she figured she most likely would've lost it too. The conveyor belt on the baggage claim machine wasn't moving and there were no suitcases on it.

"Maybe we slept through an emergency broadcast?" Kaede asked.

"I don't think so," Sayaka replied. "I feel like it's something bigger."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. But I just feel like something's wrong. Something that's more serious than we think."

They made their way outside to see one vehicle there. A bus with the words "Hope's Peak Academy" written on the side. But surrounding the airport was a massive stone wall that must've reached at least four hundred feet high, enclosing them and the airport and locking them in.

"What is this?" Kaede asked. She turned to Sayaka, but Sayaka looked as shocked as she was. Then, Kaede's eyes turned to the bus as a potential way out of here

"Let's get in." Kaede said. "We're supposed to ride the shuttle, right?"

"Um, I guess, but I'm not sure if that's going to apply here." Sayaka said. "This situation definitely isn't normal."

Kaede walked up to the bus, but inside, there was no driver and the bus wasn't running. In fact, the bus door wouldn't even open.

"Nope," Sayaka said. "It's not open."

Kaede looked at the walls and saw one place where it looked it would be possible to leave; a metal gate. After running over to the gate and pulling on it, she figured forcing it would be out of the question. "It's either stuck or locked," she said.

She didn't see any kind of keyhole, but the gate wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pulled or pushed on it.

"Do you think we should call someone?" Kaede asked, finger pointed in the air. "My phone went missing along with my baggage, but I'm sure there are some phones inside the airport."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sayaka replied. "But can we even get back inside?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally you're not supposed to enter the airport through the arrivals gate. And we don't have a boarding pass to get in through the other way through security." Sayaka said.

Kaede sighed. "If there's no one here, that shouldn't be much of a problem. In all honesty, even if we do get apprehended, we could just ask the security guard what's going on. It'll be reassuring to see at least another person."

Sayaka stood for a minute, thinking, before she nodded and followed me back into the airport. This time, they went in through the other entrance. But a new observation came to Kaede's mind.

"Is it just me, or is this airport eerily small for a major city?" Kaede asked.

"I was thinking that too." Sayaka replied. "Only one terminal, with four gates? That definitely seems too small."

Kaede's stress levels intensified. With that huge wall surrounding them, does this airport even connect to the city? It seemed they were boxed in, at least for now.

"But why would this city…" she said. "This city…"

"Hm?" Sayaka asked. "What is it?"

She racked her mind, but nothing came to. What city were they in? Why can't she remember that? She knew they were going to Hope's Peak, and she knew it was in a major city, but why couldn't she remember where they were going?

"Um," she said. "Where exactly are we?"

"What do you mean?" Sayaka asked. "We're at the airport."

"No, the city." Kaede replied. "What city are we in?"

"Are you okay?" Sayaka asked, concerned. "We're in…. We're in…"

She trailed off into thought. "Where are we?"

"You too?" Kaede asked.

"That's so weird. Why can't I remember the city? I can remember it was supposed to be a very large city, but I can't remember any details about it."

The two of them stood outside the airport in thought.

"I don't understand why we can't remember." Sayaka said. "Seems like a rather important detail to just forget."

"Yeah, it's strange," Kaede replied. "You know what? It's probably because we're stressed out about this situation. I'm sure it'll come back to us eventually."

"You're right," Sayaka replied. "Let's go inside and see if we can phone a call to the academy or back home. I'm sure there has to be a phone in there somewhere."

Kaede nodded and followed her back inside the building.

After going back in, they went through security with little issue as there was no one to make sure they weren't bringing anything dangerous. But on the other end, they found a few phones. Kaede picked up the phone from its stand on the wall and put in the number to her house. But it only took a few seconds before she noticed it wasn't working. She looked down on the ground in defeat.

"So, we're stuck here, then." Sayaka said, looking down and upset.

"No, I'm sure there's a way out." Kaede replied, pressing her tongue against her cheek. "If we came in somehow, there has to be a way we can get out."

They stood there for a second before they heard the front door open, and saw two boys around their age walk in. One of them had wild white hair and was wearing an ordinary hoodie and jeans. The other had short light green hair and a dark blue striped sweater. Both of them seemed rather calm, but they ran up to them at the sight of them.

"Oh my god," Kaede gasped. "There are more people here?"

"Do either of you work here?" the green-haired one asked. "Or, at least know what's going on?"

"N-No," Kaede stammered. "We just got out of our plane… and everyone was gone."

"You too, huh?" the white haired one asked. "I can't help but feel there's a greater meaning to all of this."

He turned to Sayaka. "Oh, are you Sayaka Maizono?" he asked.

"Oh, um, yes!" Sayaka said. Nagito walked up to her and began shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nagito Komaeda. I'm sure you haven't heard of me, but I'm going to be your classmate at Hope's Peak."

Kaede's mind twisted at those words. Hope's Peak? This boy… he was an Ultimate too?

Nagito turned to her. "Well, given how Sayaka and Rantaro here are Ultimates too, I presume you're an Ultimate as well. Hang on, let me recall that thread. You're… you're Kaede Akamatsu, right? The Ultimate Pianist?"

"Oh, um, yeah, that's right." she said. This boy definitely did his research. "You said you're going to be our classmate at Hope's Peak?"

"That's correct." he replied.

"What talent do you have exactly?" she asked.

"Oh, it's kind of a crappy talent," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, don't start with that. Whatever you were accepted for, it has to be exceptional for Hope's Peak to choose you of the millions in Japan!"

"I'm lucky."

"Huh?" Kaede asked. "Oh. You must be the **Ultimate Lucky Student**. The one they pick from a raffle."

"That's right." Nagito replied. "That raffle winner happened to be me. They want to experiment on the 'talent' of luck."

"Is that really a talent?" Sayaka asked "Not to be rude, of course."

"I have mixed opinions about it," Nagito replied. "On one hand, I'm glad to go to this prestigious hope-filled school, but on the other hand, there are so many more worthwhile people who could've taken my place."

"Don't feel too bad about it." the other boy said. "You got picked, so you got an opportunity. You're not doing any harm by taking it."

They all nodded and stood with him. "By the way, what about you?" Sayaka asked, turning to the boy.

"Oh, the name's Rantaro Amami. I'm called the **Ultimate Adventurer.** "

"Ooh, that sounds amazing." Kaede cheered. "What kind of stuff do you do?"

"Well, I travel a lot, of course. I can navigate really easily and have good survival skills." Rantaro replied. "I'll leave it at that for now. I don't really think this is the time to delve deep into my backstory. We need to figure out what's going on."

She nodded. "How long ago did you wake up? Were you on our plane?"

"I don't think we were on your plane." Nagito said. "We got out of the plane that's docked at Gate 2 around twenty minutes ago. Since then, we've been walking along the walls to try and find a way to get out."

"Did you find anything?" Sayaka asked, biting her fingernail.

Rantaro stuck a finger in the air "The only semblance of an exit we found was the gate over by the road, but it looks like it's locked shut. We did find a hangar for storing planes in, but it's locked."

"That's the only way out, minus finding something to use as a massive ladder." Nagito replied.

"The only unlocked rooms in this airport are the contraband room, bathrooms, and the first-class lounge." Rantaro said. "But the first-class lounge seems to have some food put out. And it's not old food that's been sitting out for days. It's fresh and steaming hot."

"What?" Sayaka asked. "Fresh food?"

"Stuff like curry rice and Mongolian beef." Rantaro said.

"What does that mean?" Sayaka asked.

Rantaro stared at Kaede, eyes boring deep into her soul. "That must mean this isn't an accident. Someone trapped us in here, and that person wants us to stay alive."

"W-What?" she shouted. "Why?"

"Don't know. Can't say any of us know." Rantaro said. "Unless one of us is the one behind this."

Everyone went quiet. Thoughts ran through Kaede's mind. Someone here is the person who trapped them in here?

"Let's not think about that possibility. I'm sure we're all just in the same boat. Let's work together."

The three of them nodded.

"Can you lead us to the lounge and the contraband room?" she asked.

"The contraband room's over by security." Nagito said.

She nodded as her and Sayaka ran over to security. On a wall next to the metal detectors, she noticed a door that read "Contraband Room." She slowly opened the door to see shelves with an assortment of random objects. Some of them were definitely dangerous, such as knives, firearms, lighters, and other things that would obviously not be allowed on a plane. There were also other things such as remote-controlled toys, produce, and a bunch of other random things.

"I don't think anything in here is helpful," Sayaka said. "Unless you plan to use a grenade to blow up the wall."

"There are grenades in here?" Kaede asked, shocked. "Where?"

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," Sayaka replied. "I guess we could try that, but the walls are so high that I'd bet we'd be crushed by the rubble."

Kaede sighed. Sayaka was right. Nothing in here would be helpful in terms of escaping. As such, they exited and ran a few feet to the first class lounge and made their way inside. The lounge was extremely nice. It had several couches, chairs, tables, a bar, and what looked like a buffet with several food plates. It was completely unattended, but sure enough, the food was freshly prepared and had steam coming off of it.

"Why?" Kaede asked. "Why are we here? What's happening?"

Sayaka said nothing, but looked just as distressed as she was.

As they were having a staring contest with the inanimate food, they heard the doors to the lounge open and close. Kaede turned around, expecting it to be Rantaro and Nagito, but instead they were faced with a few new faces. A tall gang-like boy and a petite girl. The boy had some weird brown hair that stuck out around a foot in front of his face. The girl was quite short, and didn't really seem like she was interested in talking.

"Can you tell us what the hell's going on?" the boy asked. "What happened? Where is everyone?"

"Calm down, calm down!" Kaede shouted. "None of us know what's happening either."

She stared at them for a bit before they calmed down and sat down on one of the sofas.

"Are you two Ultimates too?" Kaede asked. "I mean, Sayaka and I are, and we met two boys who were also Ultimates."

"Oh, we are." the girl said. "Are you two supposed to be our classmates?"

"I presume," she said. "I'm Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist."

"And I'm Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation!"

The two of them nodded. "I'm Chihiro Fujisaki," the girl said. "I'm known as the **Ultimate Programmer**."

"And I'm Mondo Owada," the boy replied. " **The Ultimate Biker Gang Leader**. Nice to meetcha."

"We're supposed to be headed to Hope's Peak Academy, but this situation is quite concerning." Chihiro said.

Mondo spoke up. "We woke up on the same plane. But when we landed, everyone was just gone. And all our stuff was gone too! We decided to ask someone about it, but there's no one here to ask."

"That's the same for us, too." Sayaka said. "And now we're trapped here."

"Trapped?" the boy asked. "What do you mean trapped?"

"Have you been outside?" Kaede asked. They shook their heads.

"We're surrounded by a huge wall," Nagito said, walking inside with Rantaro.

"Who the fuck are you?" Mondo asked.

"I'm Nagito Komaeda. Ultimate Lucky student."

These two and Rantaro took some time to introduce each other before settling back on the original topic.

"So what'd you say about a wall?" Mondo asked.

"Yeah, there's a wall completely surrounding this airport." Kaede said. "The only exit we could find was some kind of gate, but we couldn't get it open."

Mondo rose to his feet. "Let's check it out."

He and Chihiro began moving out of the lounge as the four of them followed them. Eventually, they made their way outside and began staring at the wall, back to back.

"What?" Chihiro asked, nearly crying.

"What the fuck is this shit?" Mondo asked. He ran over to the gate and pulled on it, but it didn't budge even with his strength. He continued pulling on it as he grew more and more infuriated.

"Maybe it's a push door," Kaede said.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Mondo shouted, then looked at her. "Sorry. Just… Now's not the time for jokes."

"Sorry," she replied. "Just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"What about that bus over there?" Chihiro asked. "It has Hope's Peak Academy written on the side."

"It's locked," Nagito said. "Not like it would matter if we could get inside. There's no driver."

Chihiro walked over to it as the doors opened right in front of her.

"Did the doors just open?" Sayaka asked.

"Looks like it," Kaede replied. Why would the doors open? There's no one inside to open it up. And it was definitely locked when they tried it around ten minutes earlier.

Chihiro climbed up onto the bus as the rest of them stood outside.

"Guys?" Chihiro asked. "Come look at this!"

They looked at each other and shrugged as they made their way into the bus.

"What is it?" Rantaro asked. Chihiro pointed up at the monitor near the ceiling of the bus, where its screen was flickering. Soon enough, the flickering stopped as an image of the Hope's Peak Academy emblem came into focus. A high-pitched voice began emitting from its speakers.

" _ **Welcome, students! I am the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy! I understand that you want to head to Hope's Peak as fast as you can, but first, I think you would be a little interested in the city you'll be staying in for the next few years!"**_

"Fuck that!" Mondo shouted, standing up. "Tell us what the hell is going on with this airport!"

"I think this is a recording," Chihiro said. "Don't yell."

Mondo huffed and sat down on one of the seats as the rest of them listened to what else the video had to say.

"So we're supposed to be taking a city tour?" Sayaka said.

"I doubt that's going to happen." Rantaro said. "We still have the issue with the gate. We can't leave the airport."

All of a sudden, they lurched forward.

"Huh?" Kaede asked. "It's… moving?"

She got up to look at the front of the bus. There was no one at the wheel, but sure enough, the bus was moving.

"No one's driving?" Nagito asked, looking at it.

"What?" Chihiro asked, balling up in her seat. Mondo stood up and ran over to the doors, which seemed to be locked again.

"God dammit! What is this?" Mondo asked.

"Maybe it's just a self driving bus," Kaede said. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

The bus went towards the gate as a clicking noise was heard, and the gate opened up as they entered. After that, they went through a dark tunnel before reemerging onto a bridge leading into what looked like part of a city. Only one problem; this fragment of a city was also walled off, leaving only around five or so buildings within the boundaries.

"Going from a walled airport to a walled city," Rantaro said. "I'm sensing there's something wrong here."

The bus stopped right before an intersection (the only intersection accessible to them) as the monitor flared up again.

" _ **Welcome to Dangan City!"**_

"Dangan City?" Rantaro asked. "That doesn't sound right. We're in… we're in..."

"What?" Mondo asked.

"That's strange. I can't remember. Haha."

Everyone went silent, trying to remember where they were. No one made a reply.

"Did everyone forget?" Kaede asked. "Sayaka and I don't remember either"

"There's something weird going on." Mondo said. "I don't like it."

Before any further conversation about their memories occurred, the monitor flared up again.

" _ **Please take an electronic handbook from the seat in front of you. After you boot it up, it should display a map for District One and the Airport."**_

Kaede reached forwards and pulled back the pocket of the seat in front of her. She reached in, pulling out something that looked like a futuristic tablet. After pressing the button on the bottom, it shot a few lasers, scanning across her face.

"What?" she asked, dropping it out of fear and leaning backwards a little. It fell onto the floor as the lasers stopped, only for her to reach over and pick it up again. Displayed on the screen was a phrase.

FACIAL RECOGNITION: KAEDE AKAMATSU.

The handbook then moved onto a new screen which displayed a map for the area. It seemed like in this district, there were five buildings. Condominiums, Office, Supermarket, Restaurant, and Library. There was also a small river that ran across the right-hand side of the screen and underneath the bridge they had just crossed. Apparently, there was also a small dock underneath the bridge.

**District 1 Map:**

**Airport Map:**

" _ **You will now be given an opportunity to unite with the other ten students who you will be taking this journey with. They should be waiting in the lobby of the Condominium. Please introduce yourselves as preparations are made!"**_

She sighed. This definitely wasn't normal, and something was definitely wrong. But right now, there really didn't seem to be any other option.

"Come on. Let's go." she said, opening the bus door and stepping off.

"You're doing what he says?" Mondo asked. "What if it's a trap?"

"I don't think we have a choice," Kaede replied. "If you have any other ideas, I'm all ears. But I can tell there's no way out from here. We should just do what he says. As awkward as this might be, it could be related to Hope's Peak anyways."

"Tch."

The six of them walked as a group to the entrance to the condominiums building before they opened the door and stepped inside.

They were greeted with the stares of around ten people, all of which seemed drastically different.

A punk-ish boy with wild red hair and a goatee stared at them. "More?"

"Okay, counting everyone already here, that makes sixteen," a tall, silver-haired girl said.

"Wow, you can count up to sixteen!" a short, purple-haired boy said, squatting down with his fists in front of his body. "What an amazing feat!"

"..." The girl glared at him.

Kaede decided to take the first leap. "Um, hi," she said. "The monitor on the bus said that we're supposed to be taking some kind of journey with you?"

"Yeah," a blue-haired woman with glasses said. "None of us really know what's going on. Supposedly, there were three buses, all coming from the airport, staggered around an hour apart. Five of us were on the first bus, five were on the second, and now we have you six."

"Do you know what's happening?" a tall man, also with dark purple hair, and a brown jacket asked. "We all arrived, but the airport was walled off and no one else was inside."

They shook their heads. This situation was so bizarre that Kaede couldn't even come up with a lie that would explain everything.

"That bus was from Hope's Peak Academy, and it called the rest of you 'students'. Are you guys attending Hope's Peak Academy too?"

"As a matter of fact, we are." a redheaded girl said. "So I assume you six are as well?"

"Yeah," Kaede said. "The monitor said to introduce ourselves, so why don't we get started?"

"That monitor was very suspicious, but I don't see why introducing ourselves could be a bad thing."

They nodded as Kaede made her way over to the redheaded girl.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Me? Oh, I'm Mahiru Koizumi, the **Ultimate Photographer.** "

"Wow, a photographer, huh?" Kaede said, impressed.

"Yeah," she replied. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm Kaede Akamatsu! I'm a pianist. Nice to meet you!"

Kaede gave her arm a nice, fierce shake.

"Quite the predicament that we've gotten into, huh?" Kaede asked.

"Honestly, I can't really be sure," she replied. "Obviously what we came into isn't normal, but we can't be sure this isn't some kind of wacky orientation or something like that. Besides, if anything goes wrong, I'm sure the boys will protect us."

"Protect us?"

"In scenarios like this, don't you think it's the boys' responsibility to protect us girls?"

"I guess," Kaede replied. "But I'm sure we're perfectly capable of defending ourselves. We don't have to rely on them for everything, right?"

"Well, either way, I'm sure nothing's going to get too out of hand." Mahiru said. Kaede nodded as she moved onto the next person she laid her eyes on. As Mahiru moved onto greeting Nagito, Kaede began walking over to a short boy with a checkered scarf.

"Hello," Kaede said. "I'm Kaede Akamatsu!"

"Neeheehee…" he muttered. "My name is Kokichi Oma, the **Ultimate Supreme Leader**!"

"..."

"..."

"Supreme Leader?" Kaede asked. "Can you… um… elaborate on that? I don't get it."

"Oh, I'm just the leader of a secret underground organization!"

"W-What? Secret organization? Like the yakuza?"

"Neheehee! Maybe!"

"Maybe?" She asked, scrunching her face.

"We have over ten thousand members all around Japan! Pretty impressive, right? And we do loooots of illegal stuff."

"B-B-But-"

"But who knows? I am a liar, after all."

"..."

"..."

"So, um, was that a lie?"

"Who knows? Neeheehee!"

"Just tell me if you're lying or not."

She could quickly tell that this guy would be hard to work with. She sighed and moved onto the next person. A woman with blue hair and glasses that sort of reminded her of Sayaka if she was a librarian.

"Hi, what's your name?" Kaede asked. No response. "Hello?" she asked, screaming directly into her ear.

All of a sudden, another girl popped up right behind her. "Oh, are you yelling into people's ears now? Can Ibuki join?"

"Haha, sure!"

They took turns yelling into this poor girl's ear.

"Oh, wow, okay," she said, finally moving. "I didn't expect that, being screamed at from both sides for doing absolutely nothing. Sorry. I was just deep in thought."

"She's alive?" the upbeat girl asked.

"Of course I am. Sorry."

"N-no worries." Kaede said. "But now that you're aware we exist, care to introduce yourself?"

"My name's Tsumugi Shirogane! I'm the **Ultimate Cosplayer**."

"Woah, me next, me next!" this other girl yelled. "My name is I-Buki-Mio-Da! If you put it together, you get Ibuki Mioda! Ibuki is the **Ultimate Musician**!"

This girl seemed fun.

"I'm Kaede Akamatsu, and I'm the Ultimate Pianist."

Tsumugi turned to her. "Hey, what's your favorite episode of (INSERT OBSCURE ANIME REFERENCE HERE)?"

She seemed to be almost drooling over this show that didn't even strike a bell of recognition in Kaede's mind.

"Er, sorry, but I've never even heard of that."

"Ibuki's kinda confused too,"

"Oh, sorry. I watch a lot of anime. I guess it's plainly wrong to assume everyone I meet has the same tastes as me."

"I watch some anime, just not that much. I spend most of my free time on the piano, anyways."

"You're so cute!" Ibuki shouted. "Ibuki thinks you'd look great in a sexy knight cosplay!"

Kaede felt that she'd have to agree.

Tsumugi began blushing. "Oh, well I normally don't cosplay myself. My interests are more along the lines of making the costumes for others to wear."

Kaede crossed her arms. "I see. Well, what kinds of cosplay do you enjoy making?"

"I love making almost any cosplay!" she shouted, gleam in her eye. "It can be anything interesting, really. Although some costumes are rather… difficult to recreate. Especially since I have to tailor it to whoever's wearing them. Things like height, waistline, and bust make things difficult."

"Mmhmm…" Kaede said, turning to Ibuki, more ready to strike up a conversation with her. "It's nice to meet another musician here! That makes three, unless there's another person here who I haven't met."

"Nah, Ibuki's talked to almost everyone here. Except for Checkers over there. He scares me."

Checkers… she must be talking about Kokichi.

"Anyways, this place is bombtastic! I dunno why we're here, but it's not a bad place to be. There's a supermarket with a bunch of awesome goodies, a nice restaurant, and a bunch of other thingamajigs."

"Shouldn't you be a little more concerned about the situation we're in?" Kaede asked. She seemed a little more upbeat than she should be.

"C'mon, don't kill my mood!"

She pursed her lips and nodded before moving on. The next closest person was a guy with a punk-ish look.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Leon Kuwata, sup?"

"Oh, I'm Kaede Akamatsu! I play piano. What about you?"

"Huh? Oh, I got accepted as the **Ultimate Baseball Star**. But in all honesty, now that I'm actually in the school, I plan to ditch baseball for good. I don't even like it."

"What?" She asked. "But that's your talent, right? Don't you have any passion in it?"

"Nah, not really," he replied. "But say, I have some passion in you."

He put a hand on Kaede's shoulder as she awkwardly pushed it off.

"LEON, YOUR PICKUP LINES TOTALLY SUCK!" Kokichi shouted from the corner.

"HEY!" Leon shouted back.

All of a sudden, Kaede's legs went all numb.

"Uagh!" she shouted, toppling forwards right on top of Leon, knocking him to the ground.

"W-Woah!" Leon shouted. Everyone in the room stared at them. And their position wasn't exactly… innocent. Her face was a few inches from his.

"Sorry!" She shouted. What happened? Why did her legs just decide to stop working there?

Leon looked up at her. "Y'know, you're going a little fast."

She awkwardly pushed herself up and backed up from him a little bit. "I think this conversation is over,"

"W-Wait, come back!" he shouted.

"Sorry, I'm talking to this girl!" Kaede replied, turning to a tall, silver-haired girl.

"You weren't talking to me," she said.

"Sorry," she replied. "I'm Kaede Akamatsu. What's your name?"

"Introductions? I see… I'm Peko Pekoyama, the **Ultimate Swordswoman**."

This girl looks both cute and fierce. She figured she probably shouldn't mess with her if she valued her limbs.

"Is there... something going on with you and that boy?" she asked.

Kaede blushed. "What? No! I just fell."

Peko's hands went to mess with her braid. "You just fell? You were standing still. You couldn't've tripped."

"I don't know. I guess my legs fell asleep." she reasoned.

"That position you two landed in was very… suggestive. I won't bring it up again, but judging by the people I've met, there's going to be some lasting rumors about you two."

"Great."

Kaede turned her eyes off Peko and avoided Leon as she made her way over to some girl with goggles on her forehead.

"Woah, I wouldn't think you'd want to fuck Baseball Simp in the middle of the room!" she shouted.

"It's not like that!" Kaede shouted. "I fell."

"Yeah, right, bitch. Next time you fall, you're probably going to pull his pants down with you!"

"S-Shut up! Who even are you, anyway?"

She smirked. "Haha! Very funny."

"..."

"You're serious? You've never heard of me?" Some whine emitted from her voice.

Kaede stared at her blankly. "..."

"Pfft. Fine. The name's Miu Iruma, the **Ultimate Inventor** herself! I'm the gorgeous girl genius who's going to be written in all the history books of the future!"

"Inventor, huh?" Kaede asked. "That's interesting. What kind of things have you made?"

"Well, I've made a lot of things. Like this putty that dries into a compound that's ten times stronger than concrete. Or this machine that lets you cook food in your sleep."

Kaede stared at her. That sounded like a fire hazard.

"I... see."

"Bahaha! Isn't it just amazing?"

"That's definitely something to be proud of," Kaede said.

"Of course it is! What kind of lame shit did your sorry tits do to be accepted?"

"What was that about my chest?"

"EEEEEEeeee!"

What's with this girl?

* * *

Kaede surveyed the room to look for the people she hadn't met yet. To her left was a girl who seemed to be playing some handheld game.

"Hi," Kaede said. No response. "Hello?"

She seemed a little too invested in her game, so Kaede poked her cheek. Not taking her eyes or hands off the controller, she shifted her shoulder to wipe her cheek without paying her any attention.

"Hello?"

She then paused the game and looked right at her. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine," Kaede replied. "What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Chiaki Nanami."

"You an Ultimate too?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah. I'm the **Ultimate Gamer**. And you?"

"I'm the Ultimate Pianist." she replied. "My name's Kaede Akamatsu."

"Nice to meet you," she stoically said. She then unpaused her game and continued playing.

"So…" Kaede continued. "What're you playing there?"

"Oh, it's nothing special," she replied. "Just an old retro game you've probably never heard of."

Kaede looked at her screen and saw a bunch of random pixels. She had no clue what was happening.

"I… I guess I'll leave you to it." she said.

As of now, there were only two people she had yet to talk to, so she decided to talk to whoever was closer.

"Hey, what do you think about our situation right now?" he asked.

"Oh, um, it's definitely strange." Kaede said.

"Well, if it's bad, we can definitely get out of here if we work together!" he said.

"That's something I can agree with!" she cheerily replied, shaking his hand. "What's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, the name's Kaito Momota. I'm the **Ultimate Astronaut**."

"Kaede Akamatsu. The Ultimate Pianist."

She let go of his hand. "So you're an Astronaut? You've been to space? That's so cool!"

"Well, not quite," Kaito replied. "I'm still a trainee. I haven't actually been to space yet. I kind of… forged some documents to sneak into the exam even though I wasn't old enough to take it. I ended up passing, though, and that's how I got scouted into Hope's Peak as an Ultimate."

"Isn't that fraud?" Kaede asked.

"If you put it like that, I guess it is, but I didn't get penalized. It's no big deal." He said. "Just put that behind us!"

"Well, anyways, it's nice to meet you."

He nodded as Kaede located the last person in the room. Looking around at who she's talked to, she found the last girl after around three minutes of searching because of how far she was from everyone else. Some tall girl with a black bob cut, leaning near the corner of the room.

Kaede approached her. "Hi. What's your name?"

"..."

"..."

"The name's Mukuro Ikusaba." she said.

"..."

"..." This was getting nowhere. Kaede knew she had to take the initiative in order to keep this going.

"Um, I'm Kaede Akamatsu," she said. "I'm the Ultimate Pianist. What about you?"

"..."

"You are an Ultimate, right? You got scouted for Hope's Peak, right?"

"Of course," She replied.

"Then what Ultimate are you?"

She had a thumbnail in between her teeth. "..."

Kaede looked at her clothes and gear, hoping that they would give her a clue as to who she was. It did not. She was just wearing a white button shirt and a black skirt, which gave her absolutely no clues.

"Come on. Be more cooperative with me." Kaede probed.

"I'm not trying to be uncooperative."

"Then why aren't you answering me?"

"It's… not important."

"Are you self-conscious about it? You don't need to be ashamed of your own talent."

"It's not that. Just leave me alone for now." Mukuro replied. "Please."

***DING DONG BING BONG***

Kaede stepped away from Mukuro as she looked up at the monitor, which was once again showing the Hope's Peak Academy symbol.

" _ **I presume you have met all your classmates by now? I gave you ample time. If not, you can catch up later. I will be introducing myself shortly."**_

*DING*

"Huh? What was that?" Kaito asked.

"It came from the elevator," Peko said. "Something's coming down."

*DING*

*DING*

Their heads turned to the elevator as it opened up, revealing some kind of black-and-white teddy bear.

"A teddy bear?" Chiaki asked.

"I am not a teddy bear!" it shouted, standing up.

"Aagh!" Kaito shouted. "It can walk! And talk!"

"Calm down, calm down. I'm not haunted." it said. "My name is Monokuma, and I am the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy!"

"H-Headmaster?" Kaede asked. "Isn't the headmaster Jin Kirigiri?"

"He might've been in the past, but not anymore." Monokuma replied.

"What do you mean 'in the past'?" Leon shouted. "He's the headmaster now, idiot!"

Monokuma snickered. "Don't worry yourself with Jin Kirigiri. He has nothing to do with you."

"Let me just get straight to the point." Rantaro said. "Why have you brought us here? We're supposed to be Hope's Peak students. First off, what is this place. Second off, why are we here instead of school?"

"Puhuhu," he laughed. "I'll answer your questions. This is Dangan City. A great paradise where you sixteen can live without any influence from the outside world! No one can come in, no one can leave. Isn't it great?"

"Great, my ass!" Mondo shouted. "Take us to Hope's Peak Academy right now!"

"Did you… kidnap us?" Kaede asked, crossing her arms and staring at the stuffed animal. "Did you kidnap us and bring us here?"

"Puhuhu, maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Monokuma teased.

"Okay, you answered about what this place is." Kokichi said. "But why are we here? What do you plan for us to do?"

"Puhuhu! Listen up and listen well! From this point onward, you sixteen will be playing a killing game. I call it **THE KILLING CITY TOUR**!"

Shocked noises came from all around the group.

"Killing game?"

"But we're all students!"

"Wow! How fun!"

"I'm hungry."

"We have to kill each other?"

"Okay, okay, calm down. No questions right now, but it's very important that you hear the rules of this game!"

"Shut up!" Kaito shouted. "We don't want to hear it!"

"Oh, but you really should." he said. "Understanding the rules of this game can and will mean the difference between life and death."

"Wow! Tell us the rules!" Kokichi said, bending over and staring.

"W-What the heck is wrong with you?" Mahiru asked, smacking the back of his head. "You want to play?"

"Well, duh." he said. "Doesn't it sound so fun?"

"Are you insane?" Mahiru asked.

"Puhuhu! At least someone other than me is excited!" Monokuma laughed. "Now then, let me explain what this game is all about! Bottom line, you're going to kill each other!"

"Kill each other..?" Mukuro trailed.

"Yup! Well, that's just the basics of it. It's more complicated than that."

"There's no way any of us are going to kill," Chihiro said. "We're all just high schoolers."

"Oh? Not even for your own freedom?" Monokuma teased.

"Freedom?" Chihiro trailed.

"Puhuhu! You will spend eternity in this city! Try as you might, there is no way to leave. The walls are high enough that vaulting, climbing, or flying over them is out of the question. They're tough enough that only the force of a nuclear bomb could get them to topple. Quite literally, you're stuck here unless I personally let you go. There are two conditions in which I will let you go: the first is that you commit murder."

"M-Murder?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, Murder!" he cheerfully laughed. "If you kill someone, any one of the other fifteen students surrounding you, you'll get a chance to leave! However, simply murdering isn't enough to guarantee that you'll be able to leave."

"After you commit murder, you have to get away with it as well! If you have committed murder, you will be labelled as the blackened, and you must face off with all the spotless students at a Class Trial!"

"Class trial?" Peko asked. "Explain."

"Once three or more students have discovered the body, an announcement will ring on all the monitors of the city displaying that a body has been discovered, and the location of said body. Once all the students have gathered together, you'll have a predetermined amount of time to investigate the body and the crime scene. Once the investigation has concluded, every student must enter the Class Trial taking place in the basement below the Condominiums. There, you must present your arguments for who you think did it! After you've finished debating, there will be a majority vote. If the majority votes for the true culprit, then the spotless win! The culprit will be executed, and the rest of you will continue living your life inside this city. However, if the majority votes for the wrong person, the blackened wins, and everyone except the blackened will be executed! And of course, the blackened will leave the city."

"This is insane!" Kaede shouted, sweating from the amount of stressful information she just got. "No way am I, nor anyone else in this room, willing to murder someone just to leave!"

"Puhuhu! You might think so now, but someone's going to crack eventually!" Monokuma shouted. "Any method of murder is fine! Stabbing, bludgeoning, poisoning, burning, ripping, gassing, strangling, anything goes! There isn't a time limit, so you can kill whenever you please!"

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Leon shouted. "You're just telling us to kill each other!?"

"Psh. It's not like I'm saying that you absolutely have to kill. It's completely possible that none of you will kill, and you'll all live until you die of old age. It's up to you! But if I were you, I'd probably kill before your old life gets thrown into the dumpster. After a few years, you're declared legally dead. I dunno enough about law to know the specifics of it, but you'll lose all rights as a living human."

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER, I'LL KILL YOU!" Mondo shouted, running up to it and picking up Monokuma.

"Puhuhu! I wouldn't do that if I were you. You should check the handbooks that you picked up in the shuttle! On it are City Regulations! If you break any of those regulations, you'll be punished!"

"I don't give a fuck!" Mondo shouted.

"Mondo!" Peko shouted, handbook out. "Don't!"

She ran up to him and Monokuma.

"What the hell are you doing? Normally I don't mess with girls, but if you're defending this shitbag-"

*beep beep beep*

"Huh?" Mondo asked.

"Dammit," Peko said, rapid-clicking the button on the elevator.

*beep beep beep*

"What are you doing?" Mondo asked. Peko wrangled Monokuma out of his hands and tossed it into the elevator.

*beepbeepbeep*

Peko ran in and clicked a few buttons in order to close the elevator doors and ran out.

*beepbeepbee- BOOOM!*

Everyone clapped their hands over their ears as the explosion noise rattled their bones.

"What was that?" Mondo asked.

"Judging from the sound, it definitely exploded." Mukuro said.

Ibuki hit the elevator button, causing the elevator to open back up. The elevator was covered in dents alongside a gigantic black soot stain. Chunks of stuffing and machine parts littered the floor.

"What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK? THAT SURE AS SHIT WASN'T A JOKE" Mondo shouted. "IT ALMOST KILLED ME!"

"Puhuhu, I certainly did!"

Everyone gasped and turned around to see Monokuma standing there.

"You're alive?" Tsumugi asked.

"You think I don't have spares?" He rebutted.

"What the fuck was that?" Mondo shouted.

"You violated one of my regulations, which caught me off guard. I should've expected it, though, because it's you. Anyways, I'll let that be a warning of what might happen to you if you break the rules! Be cautious of them!"

"You little-" Miu said.

"Anyways, that's about it for the rules! I've set up rooms for you in the upper floors of this building. And please, read your handbooks carefully! The Killing Game has now commenced! Puhuhu!"

With that, Monokuma vanished, leaving all sixteen of them standing in awe in the lobby. Everyone's eyes met another's. Only one emotion spread throughout the group.

Distrust.

* * *

**Dangan City Regulations**

**Regulation 1: Students must stay in Dangan City for the rest of the foreseeable future.**

**Regulation 2: You may not destroy any announcement monitors in this city. This includes the television in your rooms.**

**Regulation 3: Breaking into a locked room via destruction of a door is strictly prohibited.**

**Regulation 4: Nighttime is between 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Certain facilities in the city will be closed during nighttime. However, certain facilities will only be open during nighttime. Do not enter these areas outside of their hours of operation.**

**Regulation 5: Extreme violence towards Monokuma is prohibited.**

**Regulation 6: Once a murder takes place, a short investigation period and a class trial will happen soon after. While participation in the investigation is optional, participation in the trial is mandatory for all surviving students.**

**Regulation 7: If the blackened has the most votes at the end of a class trial, they alone will be executed.**

**Regulation 8: If someone other than the blackened receives the most votes, or there is a tie for the most votes, all students other than the blackened will be executed and the blackened will be allowed to escape.**

**Regulation 9: A blackened has a maximum of two victims. If a blackened kills a third victim, they will be revealed and punished with no trial.**

**Regulation 10: Monokuma will never directly interfere with a murder, whether it be working with the culprit or altering evidence.**

**Regulation 11: This killing game will continue until one of two conditions are met: Either the blackened escapes the city, or students survive until five or less remain.**

**Regulation 12: Monokuma may add additional rules at a later time.**

* * *

**Act 0**

**END**

* * *

Sayaka Maizono: Ultimate Pop Sensation

Mukuro Ikusaba: Ultimate ?

Leon Kuwata: Ultimate Baseball Star

Chihiro Fujisaki: Ultimate Programmer

Mondo Owada: Ultimate Biker Gang Leader

Mahiru Koizumi: Ultimate Photographer

Peko Pekoyama: Ultimate Swordswoman

Ibuki Mioda: Ultimate Musician

Nagito Komaeda: Ultimate Lucky Student

Chiaki Nanami: Ultimate Gamer

Rantaro Amami: Ultimate Adventurer

Kaede Akamatsu: Ultimate Pianist

Miu Iruma: Ultimate Inventor

Kokichi Oma: Ultimate Supreme Leader

Kaito Momota: Ultimate Astronaut

Tsumugi Shirogane: Ultimate Cosplayer

**Surviving Students: 16**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, now that we're into the main story and have intros out of the way, I'm going to explain some things about how Daily Life will be formatted.**

**Though some elements will be the same, most of the characters will have slightly different backstories than they did in the original games. I don't want to just repeat everything stated in the in-game FTE's, and it also helps me make certain character-related plot points flow better. (If you want to see an interaction with a specific character, let me know and I'll try to write it in the next few chapters of Daily Life)**

**While I'll try to push out chapters of Daily Life as I write them, there might be a considerable gap of time between the Daily Life and Deadly Life chapters. This is because details are extremely important for Deadly Life, and I don't want to have to constantly go back and fix plot holes in already-published chapters.**

**Also, one more thing. Since the swap to third-person, I added an extra detail in the prologue that wasn't in there in the original, first-person version. That is Rantaro's mention of a locked hangar at the airport. It was just a mention, but I have plans for that in later chapters.**

* * *

**Act 1, Part 1 (Daily Life)**

* * *

After ascending the staircase, Kaede found herself on the second floor.

Monokuma put the elevator out of order for a few days after he exploded and damaged it. It looked like it would be fine, but Monokuma didn't want any accidents (how ironic). Unfortunately, until then, everyone had to take the staircase. Luckily hers was only on the second floor, but some not-so-lucky souls had to climb more flights.

There were four condos per floor. The second floor had Kaede's, Rantaro's, Leon's, and Sayaka's. The third floor had Mukuro's, Chihiro's, Chiaki's and Nagito's, the fourth floor had Mondo's, Kokichi's, Ibuki's, and Miu's, while the fifth floor had Tsumugi's, Peko's, Kaito's, and Mahiru's.

She located the condo that had her name on it and cautiously opened the door.

"Hello?" she asked, as if there would be someone inside to show her around.

The moment she stuck her head inside, she gasped. "Wow."

The room that she had been assigned was ten times nicer than she had expected. There was a coat rack and a shoe rack by the door, which were already stocked with replicas of her existing shoes as well as rain boots. She took off her shoes and shoved them into the rack as she continued to explore the room.

Minus the bathroom, the entire place was just one room, like a studio apartment. There was a king-sized bed to her left, a small dining table next to the windows in the far back, a kitchen on the right when you walk in, as well as a lounge area with a sofa and a television. The only issue that she really saw with this room was that the windows were made of frosted glass that allowed light in during the day, but blurred out enough that you wouldn't be able to see anything that happened outside.

"What's the point of this?" she mumbled.

"Puhuhu!" a voice sounded. Monokuma crawled out from under her bed.

"AAugah!" she shouted. "What the heck? Where did you come from?"

"I'm going to be popping up in unexpected places a lot, so get used to it."

"What do you want?"

"Oh, I just wanted to explain some things regarding your room. You had a question regarding the windows, right? They're like that to make the room feel more normal than it would if I were to bolt iron plates on it. But if someone wants to commit murder, I don't want people to just look outside and see who it is! That's too easy!"

"So they don't open?" she asked.

"Of course they open. I'm not against getting some fresh air." Monokuma said. "But they're awning windows, so they open hinged from the top, and you can only open it around six inches before it stops you. You won't be able to see the whole city, you'll only be able to see what's directly below you. And they automatically close during the night to make sure you can't hear any screams."

"Lovely."

"If you look at the touchscreen on the wall next to the door, you can turn on a setting that makes it so the windows automatically open once nighttime is over. Just in case you don't want to do it manually."

"Um, okay? Anyways, I didn't see a lock on that door." she said, pointing to the door to the hall. "And I don't see a key either. Can anyone just walk in and kill me if they want?"

"Oh, that's because the lock is electronic." he said. "The door automatically locks once it detects the resident's handbook within the room. Of course, you can still open it from the inside. But once the handbook leaves the room, the door gets unlocked."

"So if I'm not in the room, the door's always unlocked?" Kaede asked.

"Well, more precisely, if your handbook's not in the room, the door's always unlocked. Just another reason to keep your handbook with you at all times." he said. "Anyone can come in if you're not already in the room."

"Isn't that problematic?" she asked. "People could steal whatever they want!"

"It's no big deal," he said. "Stealing isn't against the rules. I doubt you have anything anyone would want to steal anyways. Besides, that's the reason why we have the safe!"

"Safe?" Kaede asked. Monokuma motioned to the shelf under the TV and slid open the cabinet to reveal a metal box with a sensor in front.

"You need to scan your handbook to open it," he said. "If you have anything you want to keep secret, whether it's a sentimental item, something valuable, or porn, be sure to stash it in here. And it's very durable and secure, so it's near impossible to break or hack it open. There's only one rule; you can't use it to store anything related to a murder. It wouldn't be fun if any conclusive evidence was stashed away where it would be impossible to find! Hang on, let me add that to the rules."

He stood still for a second as her handbook beeped. Curious, she took a look.

**Regulation 12: You may not hide anything directly related to a murder in your room's safe.**

"Also, just so you know, all the rooms in this building are completely soundproof, so if someone screams for their life outside, or even in the room next to you, there's no way for you to know."

"Right…" Kaede said. "Is that all you have to tell me?"

"Pretty much," he said. "Unless you have any questions for me."

She sure as hell had a lot of questions, but she knew she wasn't going to get any useful answers. But she figured she may as well try.

"Why are you making us play this game? What's the point of it all?"

"I just wanted to have some fun. Isn't this thrilling?"

"Fun? That's all?"

"Well, I might have other reasons, but that's not important for you to know. Regardless of whether you plan to kill or not, whether you know my true intentions or not, that changes nothing. Your life is still at stake. Focus more on the game than my intentions."

He vanished. Kaede could clearly tell there was a deeper reason they were here. Maybe if they looked around some more, they'd find answers. But as of right now, there wasn't really anything she could do. As it was late, she decided she should go to bed.

Unfortunately, after looking in her closet, she quickly realized that the only clothes they have given them were exact replicas of what they were already wearing, so she didn't have any pajamas.

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. Maybe I could just strip down to my underwear or something." she muttered.

After getting ready (Monokuma was nice enough to give them toothbrushes and other basic hygiene tools), she hopped into her bed and draped the covers over her, hoping that they would all be able to work together and escape here with everyone safe.

* * *

*DING DONG BING BONG*

Kaede opened her eyes and stared. What was happening this early? She blinked a few times for her eyes to adjust until she noticed the light emanating from her television. On the screen was Monokuma in what looked like some kind of government office.

"Rise and shine! It is now 7:00 AM and nighttime is officially over! Get ready for a bee-yutifal day!"

The announcement cut out.

"Ugh, I'm too tired for this right now."

Kaede turned over in her sheets and went back to bed.

* * *

*Ding Dong*

Kaede rubbed her eyes again. Was someone at the door? She looked up at the clock, which displayed 8:00.

She groaned and rolled out of her bed. Not feeling enthusiastic enough to put the rest of her clothes on, she walked over to the door and cracked it open just enough to stick her head out.

"Mukuro?" she asked, staring at the woman in front of her. "What is it?"

"Peko's calling for all of us to meet up at the restaurant across the street. There's some things we need to discuss."

"Okay, give me a minute," she said, yawning.

"We'll be expecting you in half an hour." she coldly said before moving onto the next room.

Once the door was shut, she stood up and stretched her arms. She was hungry anyways, having not eaten since she left home.

Kaede went into the bathroom and prepared for her day.

She didn't notice it yesterday, but Monokuma gave them kiddie toothpaste. The bottle was a weird shape and it was covered with pictures of cartoon characters.

"Very funny," she said. Well, whatever, she figured. Toothpaste's toothpaste. She brushed her teeth with it before opening her closet and staring at the clothes inside, all exact copies of each other.

"At least I don't have to worry about what I have to wear," Kaede said. She shrugged and grabbed one set and put it on before grabbing her handbook and heading out.

* * *

The sign of the restaurant said something in French that she didn't really understand, but she could easily tell that this was intended to be a very fancy place. After she gathered her composure, she entered the restaurant to see Sayaka, Mukuro, Mahiru, Nagito, Kokichi, Miu, Tsumugi, Kaito, Rantaro, and Peko there.

"Good morning, I guess," she said, holding her upper arm.

"Yeah," Tsumugi said. "It's… an interesting predicament we're in."

"We should wait until everyone gets here." Rantaro said. "Who're we waiting on again?"

Sayaka put a finger up to her chin. "I think it's… um… Mondo, Chihiro, Leon, Chiaki, and Ibuki."

"I went to all of their rooms and they all agreed to meet us," Mukuro said. "We just need to wait a little bit."

Kaede looked around the dining area of the restaurant. Currently, they were sitting around a very long table in the center of the restaurant with a chandelier hovering above. On the wall was a monitor, presumably for any Monokuma announcements like the ones that showed up on the TVs in our rooms. But there was something missing.

"Um, I don't mean to be one of those people, but I'm kind of starving," Kaede said. "This is a restaurant. Did you find any food?"

"There's a kitchen in here," Peko said. "There's nothing ready-made, but you're welcome to cook something yourself. Or, if you don't want to, I'm sure the supermarket sells instant ramen or buy-and-go sandwiches."

"I haven't really looked anywhere besides the condos." Kaede said. "By the way, Mukuro, we haven't really introduced ourselves properly."

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked. "We introduced ourselves plenty."

"Well, I never got to learn your talent."

All eyes turned onto her.

"You didn't tell me your talent either," Nagito said. "Don't worry. There's no way your talent is worse than mine. You don't need to be ashamed of it."

"My talent?" Mukuro asked, clearly tripping over her words. "D-Don't worry about it."

"Come on, if we're going to be here together for a while, the least you can do is tell us a bit about you." Kaito said. "Who knows? Maybe your talent could come in good use."

Mukuro clutched a fist to her chest. "I… I can't."

"Do you not trust us?" Kaede asked. "Well, I guess it can't be helped in a situation like this."

"It's not that," she said. "Well, I don't fully trust all of you anyways, but that's not the reason why."

"Then why?" Rantaro asked.

"..."

"You know, normally I would chew the guys out for pressing you so much, but at this point it's getting suspicious." Mahiru said. "It's starting to sound like you have something to hide. You don't seem at all like a shy or self-reserved person."

"I don't know." she said.

"Huh?" Mahiru asked. "You don't know what?"

"I said, I don't know. I don't know my talent."

Nagito put a hand to his neck. "You don't know your talent? You're an Ultimate, right?"

"I know with one hundred percent certainty that I'm an Ultimate, and I know that I'm set to attend Hope's Peak. But I can't remember anything, no matter how hard I try."

There was a long period of silence before Rantaro broke it.

"You're probably just stressed from being in this situation." Rantaro said. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be able to remember eventually."

"It's not just that," she said. "When I said I can't remember anything, I meant I can't remember anything. The earliest I can remember was yesterday when I woke up at the airport. I knew nothing about myself. The only reason I knew my name was because I just so happened to have an ID card in my pocket when I woke up."

She pulled a card out of her chest pocket and slid it across the table. On it was her face, name, and birthdate, but that was pretty much everything of note. No address, no date of birth, no other descriptions.

"I was part of the second batch to wake up. At that point I didn't know anything, but I just got off the plane since that was the only way to go. Once I met everyone, I heard them discuss Hope's Peak Academy and Ultimates. The moment I heard that, I just knew that I was supposed to be attending, and I knew that I was an Ultimate. But that's all I know. I don't know what I can do. I don't know who my parents are or where I live. I don't know anything about my friends or my childhood. I don't even remember what the last thing I ate was."

"You might've hit your head before you arrived." Kaito said.

"I wouldn't rule that out," Mukuro replied. "I don't think I had any head pains, but it's possible."

"What if someone fucked you so hard it damaged your brain?" Miu shouted.

Kokichi sneered. "Miu, I'm sure you're speaking from experience. Anyone who looks at you can tell that life fucked you harder than anyone."

"Oh, you rotten little-!"

Mukuro shot the two of them a death glare. "That's enough."

"Ibuki thinks Muki's gonna start shooting lasers out of her eyes." Ibuki said.

"...Muki?"

"Yeah, why not?" Ibuki asked. "Tsumugi? No one calls you Mugi, right? They're too similar"

"Nah, normally it's just Tsumug or something like that, but that's only a few people back home."

"Okay, Ibuki declares your new nickname as Muki!"

Given how cold she seemed initially, Kaede figured that she would speak out and scold Ibuki or at least tell her off, but she didn't do anything of the sort.

"Yeah, sure." she said.

Really? She doesn't mind?

"Jesus Christ, how long are they gonna take?" Kokichi asked, staring towards the door? "I'm booooored?"

"If you're so bored, why don't you go sit in the corner and begin playing with yourself?" Miu asked.

"What the hell did I just walk into?" Mondo walked in alongside the other students.

"Nothing. Everything's fine. Just take a seat." Peko replied.

Everyone grabbed a seat around the table as Peko began speaking.

"Alright, so I understand that we're in a very difficult situation right now," she said. "So we need to discuss anything we've found. Has anyone explored lately?"

"I've just been in my room the whole time," Kaede said. "I don't know anything about this place."

"Yeah, the rooms," Kaito said. "None of the condo rooms had locks on them, so that's really concerning. Especially in a murder game like this."

"Huh?" Kaede asked. "But they do lock."

"They do?" Peko asked. "That's the first I'm hearing of this."

"What are you on about, Kaede?" Rantaro asked. "My door didn't have a lock."

"Monokuma came to visit me last night and explained how the room lock works. It's electronic. Apparently it's unlocked by default, but it locks when it detects the room owner's E-Handbook inside."

"Interesting." Nagito said. "So, theoretically, if I'm in my room with my handbook, then I'm safe and no one can get inside. But if I take the handbook out of the room, anyone could come inside?"

"That's what he said." Kaede explained. "These things are really important. If you forget them, you could get locked out."

Everyone nodded.

"They also seem like they're smart rooms," Rantaro said. "Like a smart house that has most of its appliances and power connected to a network. Next to the door there's a touchscreen which allows you to control things like lights, windows, temperature control, and stuff like that, as well as putting them on a schedule."

"I looked around the office before I got here," Chihiro said.

"So that's why you were fucking late! You were dicking around!" Miu shouted.

"I-I-I'm sorry?" Chihiro apologized.

"Don't apologize. It's not a problem." Mahiru said. "Miu, just… stay quiet for a bit."

"Hmph."

"Anyways, Chihiro, did you find anything of significance?"

"The office was full of computers and desks. There was a food court in there, and a few vending machines. It looked like a typical corporate office."

"Wait, hold up, there were computers in there?" Kaito asked. "Why don't we just send a message to the police?"

"Well, the computers had power, but there wasn't any Internet access. I couldn't find a router." she said, looking down at the ground.

"Don't look so upset." Kaede said. "It's not like you did anything wrong."

"Hey, Miu," Kaito said, looking at the girl. "Why can't you make one of these router things?"

"Pfft. Dumbass." she said.

"Dumbass?" Kaito repeated.

"Even if I make a router, it's pointless. We can't get onto the Internet without getting a subscription to an Internet provider. And without access to the Internet or finding a way to contact them, we can't get in touch with them. Not like I have any spare materials to work with right now anyway."

"Well, at least we can play Minesweeper if we get bored." Chiaki said.

"Oh, I also found some weird door on the top floor. It was decorated with a bunch of green binary numbers. It was locked, though, so I don't know what it was." Chihiro said.

"I looked at the supermarket after we arrived yesterday," Tsumugi said. "That place is just plain massive. There are massive sections; there's a grocery section, clothing section, hardware section, furniture, toys, just plain stuff like that. But I think that's kind of an issue."

"Issue?" Mahiru asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's all sorts of potential weapons in there. Stuff like baseball bats and shot put balls. Oh, and I saw a door similar to what Chihiro was talking about. But instead of green binary numbers, it had gears on it."

"Was this one locked too?" Leon asked. Tsumugi nodded.

"I'm more concerned about the food situation," Mahiru said. "Sure, we might have enough food for now. But if we do stay in here for a prolonged amount of time, that food's bound to spoil or run out.

"We don't need to worry about that." Tsumugi said. "Monokuma popped up when I was looking around the supermarket. He said that the supermarket gets restocked and cleared of any expired food once a week. That's really nice, at least."

"Wait, hold on. Can you repeat that again?" Chiaki asked.

"That's really nice, at least."

"No, the part before that." Chiaki said.

"Monokuma popped up when I was looking around?"

"You said the supermarket gets restocked and cleared of expired food?" Chiaki asked. "That means Monokuma has to be smuggling food from outside the city walls."

"That might be true," Nagito said. "But there's no way Monokuma made it that easy. For all we know, it could be an entrance that only he can access."

"I probably know where it is," Tsumugi said. "It's likely behind the employee only door. But next to that, there's a sign that plainly says that it's for Monokuma's use only, and there's a giant gun aiming right to the entrance. It doesn't take too much thought to imagine what would happen if you were to go through."

"Sheesh," Mahiru said. "That's… excessive."

"Well, if it's against the rules to go in there. I don't think we should risk it. Even if it is a bluff, it's too risky." Kaede said.

"Anyone else find anything interesting?" Mukuro asked.

"I did notice something," Chiaki said. "You know how the staircase only goes up to five floors?"

"Staircase of what?" Nagito asked.

"Sorry. I'm talking about the condo building."

"Yeah? What about it?" Kaede asked.

"Well, if you look up at the building itself, it's seven floors high. There must be something in the top two floors that we haven't seen yet."

"Didn't Monokuma say that's the trial room?" Mukuro asked.

"Not quite," she replied. "Monokuma said that the trial room is in the basement. So there's something on those sixth and seventh floors."

"Maybe we'll be able to access that once the elevator is fixed." Kaede said. "Anything else?"

"You can go back to the airport." Rantaro said. "You can't do it on foot, though."

"Woah, where'd you learn this?" Kaito asked.

"Oh, Monokuma set up a sign over by the bus stop. The shuttle goes back and forth between District 1 and the Airport every fifteen minutes. Apparently it only runs during the daytime, that is, from 7 AM to 9 PM. And that's supposedly the only means to get between District 1 and the Airport."

"So that means the airport is off-limits at night?" Sayaka asked.

"Not necessarily." Rantaro replied. "The shuttle is off-limits. I presume that means if you're at the airport when nighttime hits, you'll be stuck there until 7:00 the next morning. I mean, that's probably why there's ready-made food in the First Class Lounge. There's no grocery store or kitchen there."

"But what would be at the airport that's so important?" Leon asked. "I mean, it's just a place to lounge around. There's nothing of significance there."

"Well, it's a good place to go if you need some quiet time alone with someone else. And of course, there's the Contraband Room." Rantaro said. "You know, I'm sure there's a lot of dangerous things in the Contraband Room. Maybe to use in a murder?"

"Rantaro?" Kaede asked. "You're kind of creeping me out."

"Sorry. But I genuinely think it's something worth pointing out."

"The only thing we haven't talked about yet is the library," Mondo said.

"I spent most of last night there." Mahiru said. "I couldn't sleep. But there wasn't anything of significance. It was just an ordinary library. They did have DVD's of old-school movies, though."

Kokichi stood up. "Congrats, that now concludes fifteen minutes of talking about things we all would've figured out on our own!"

"Let's get down to business," Mukuro said, standing up.

"And defeat the Huns!" Tsumugi finished. Everyone stared at her awkwardly before ignoring her and returning to the original topic.

"Anyways, like I was saying," Mukuro said. "Our priorities. We need to figure out what kind of situation we're in, why we're in this scenario, and if there are any potential ways out. We need answers. First off, how did we get here? I can't say for certain because I don't remember, but you all claim that you woke up on the exact same planes you were on when you departed?"

"That's right," Kaede replied.

"I think that too," Chiaki said. "But that doesn't exactly make sense. I'm certain that there were only four planes docked at the airport. There was a hangar there, but it was very small. There's no way that could've stored more than one or two other commercial planes."

"What're you getting at?" Mondo asked.

"I think I get it," Kaede said. "She's trying to say that there's a maximum of six planes that exist. But if the amount of planes there is that small, there's a bit of an issue."

Kaede turned to Sayaka. "We woke up at Gate… 1, right?"

She nodded. "Who else woke up on the plane at Gate 1?"

Tsumugi and Leon raised their hands.

"We woke up in intervals," Chiaki said. "Which of you woke up first?"

"I did," Leon said.

"Did you notice Tsumugi in the plane at all? Or Kaede? Or Sayaka?"

"No, I didn't," he replied. "Now that you think of it, it's kind of weird. I was sure the plane was empty when I left. I checked everywhere, from the first class, to economy, to even the cockpit, but no one was there."

"Who else woke up in groups?" Chiaki asked. Everyone explained how they woke up, which gates, and what time.

"There's way more than six groups." Mukuro said. "So there's no way each group had their own plane."

"I doubt that they even went through the hassle of swapping planes. We must've just been placed onto the planes after the most recent group left," Chiaki said. "And I highly doubt that Monokuma can carry all of us in his bear form. There must be a physical person here who's doing this."

"Like, the mastermind?" Kaede asked.

"That's the most logical conclusion," Chiaki said. "It could very well be the person who's controlling Monokuma."

"Woah, woah, back up." Mahiru said. "I somewhat understand if we fell asleep on our flights and everyone else left before the mastermind took control of the plane. It's a stretch, but that's somewhat logical. But if we were placed onto the planes, then we must've been unconscious, right? How did the mastermind knock us out and kidnap us? We were on a commercial flight! There's no way security would let that slide, let alone the hundreds of people on that flight."

"That's a good point," Kaito said.

"I'm more concerned with the why than the how." Mukuro said. "Why are we in this game to begin with? Why us?"

"Well, maybe whoever it is has a grudge against Hope's Peak Academy?" Chihiro suggested. "That's the one thing we all have in common, right?"

"That's true." Peko said. "But if they had a grudge against the academy, why target us? We're all just incoming students who have barely anything to do with the academy at this point. They could've just targeted the staff or students who've already attended for a few years. And if they want us dead for some reason, they could've just killed us outright. They were able to take us here, so they definitely have the ability to kill us if they wanted."

"There are just too many variables," Kaede said.

Kokichi stared at her. "Yeah! Isn't this fun?"

Mukuro sighed. "What's the opposite of fun?"

"I have an idea," Kaito said. "Maybe they're a student who didn't get in, and they grew jealous of us?"

"I doubt it." Rantaro said. "Look around you. There's no way a student would be able to build this area, set up our handbooks, and set up Monokuma without a bucketload of money. It's more than likely this is a wealthy corporation's doing."

"Why would a corporation do something like this?" Tsumugi asked.

"Maybe… a psychology experiment?" Rantaro suggested. "I'm just throwing ideas out, but maybe they want to see the effects of a stressful situation on young people's minds. A game of life or death. And if the subjects don't know it's an experiment, then they'll get more accurate results."

"If it's an experiment, it's a pretty fucked up experiment." Mondo said. "What if someone actually decides to kill? You can't revive someone from the dead."

"You never know. It's not a stretch to assume that some companies can do this and at least attempt to cover it up from the public."

"But if that's the scenario, there's something I don't understand." Sayaka said. She turned to the adventurer. "Why would they target Hope's Peak students? We were all on separate flights when we got taken, so there's no way this is a coincidence."

"She has a point." Nagito said. "They must've been specifically targeting us because if they weren't, there's no way that everyone here would be an incoming Hope's Peak student. If they were randomly kidnapping students our age and got lucky, there's no way they would get sixteen people of the same class by coincidence. There would be at least a few people who weren't associated with Hope's Peak."

"And if they decided to take us when normal students were a valid choice, that would make things harder for them." Chiaki said. "The incoming students of Hope's Peak get famous. There's no way no one would notice an entire class going missing."

"Why don't we just ask Monokuma?" Chihiro asked.

"Do you have a brain?!" Miu scolded. "Do you think he's going to give us a straight answer?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." She squeezed her eyes closed and looked down.

There was definitely something going on here, but it was clear that no one here knew enough to get a grasp of exactly what was happening.

Standing up, Kaede slammed her hand over the table. "We don't have enough information right now, and theorizing while we have next to nothing to base it on is just digging us into a deeper hole. If we get to a false conclusion, that could be extremely dangerous for us. I think the best thing to do is to wait."

"Wait?" Mondo asked. "You want us to just sit and wait?"

"Well, not quite." Kaede said. "We're at a stalemate with the information we have now. I'm just saying, the best thing for us to do is to try and find out more."

"I agree." Peko said. "It's best if we all agree to meet up in this restaurant at 8:30 every morning just so we can discuss if anyone's found anything, and to check in with everyone to make sure there aren't any problems." Peko said. "Any objections?"

Everyone in the room nodded and agreed.

Mukuro stood up from her seat. "No matter how long we stay in here, we can't afford to panic. If anyone panics, things will get out of control fast."

"You have that right," Mahiru replied. "If someone does end up killing, it endangers all of us."

"Trust me, I don't think we have to worry about that." Kaede said. "I'm certain no one here is even thinking of killing."

"I like your optimism, but are you sure?" Sayaka asked. "I mean, we all just met each other. We don't know what everyone here is like."

"I'm positive. We're all Ultimates, right? I'm sure no one here would sacrifice the lives of fifteen others just to be able to leave. If we keep looking, I'm sure there's a solution in which all of us can escape together."

"And if there isn't?" Mondo asked.

"There is one. I'm sure of it." She said. "If we all were taken here, there has to be a way where we can get out."

"Well, I guess we just have to hope." Nagito said. "Let's keep looking to see if we can find anything."

My stomach loudly rumbled. "Heh... on another note, does anyone have any food on them?"

Kaito stood up. "I'll go get something."

* * *

It was awkward sitting in the middle of a fancy French restaurant and eating nothing but instant noodles, but at least it was quick and filled up Kaede's stomach pretty quickly.

After that, Kaede decided to go look around at the other areas in the city, starting with the office.

"Sayaka!" she said, grabbing her arm.

"Huh?"

"Have you looked around yet?"

"Not really. I've just kind of been in my room this whole time."

"Let's look around together!"

"Alright!" She said, smiling.

They came into the office together and looked around the lobby. She didn't say anything, but she was hoping that maybe there was some kind of secret door that they could use to escape. No luck, at least in the lobby.

"Sayaka!" she shouted. "Did you find anything of interest?"

"It looks like a normal lobby to me," she said. "There might be something of note on other floors."

They pressed the button to open the elevator door as they stepped inside. Really tacky music was playing inside.

"..." Kaede was speechless. To her, it almost sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"This… is terrible," she said.

"I'm using the stairs next time," Kaede replied.

*DING*

The elevator reached the floor as they stepped out, and they sighed in relief from the lack of crappy music.

"That's a lot of computers," Sayaka said.

"It's almost exactly what I expected from an office building," Kaede replied. "Chihiro said the computers worked, right?"

She went up to a nearby computer and pushed the power button as it flared to life. She waited a few minutes as Sayaka stared over her shoulder at the screen. Soon enough, it got on the login screen.

"Do we need a passcode?" Kaede asked.

"I don't think so," Sayaka replied. She sat down at the desk and moused over to the guest account, the only user that was registered, and clicked it as it logged in.

"There's nothing that looks too interesting," Sayaka said. "It looks like a new computer."

She opened up a browser. The window opened as she typed in something to search, but instead an error popped up.

"No internet," she said. "I guess Chihiro was right."

"Well, there could be files on other computers in here." Kaede said. "I think we should check each one."

"There's so many here, though." Sayaka protested. "Is it really worth it?"

"It's not like we have anything better to do with our time." Kaede replied. "If you don't want to, that's fine. But I'm staying here and checking these, just in case one of these computers has a file that can lead to any information on why we're trapped here."

Sayaka thought for a second. "You're right. I'll help."

They began booting up each computer and opening up the accounts to see if there was anything left on them. As this was a tedious and boring task, Kaede figured it would be a good opportunity to chat with Sayaka.

"So, Sayaka," she said. "What's it like being so famous?"

"Huh?" She questioned. "Being famous? Oh, it has its ups and its downs."

"Like what? I'm intrigued," Kaede replied. "Boys and girls all over the world love you. Heck, you even inspired me quite a bit."

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course! Well, back then I was still a rising piano player. I wasn't nearly at the extent of where I am now. But if I've never seen you and other famous idols, I probably wouldn't have pushed myself so far. There's a chance I wouldn't have been able to be scouted if it weren't for you."

"O-Oh," she said. "Sorry."

"Sorry? What's there to be sorry for?"

"Well if you weren't scouted for Hope's Peak, you wouldn't be here with us." Sayaka said. "You'd be safe and at home with your friends. Isn't that a better outcome for you?"

"I guess it is, but it's not like it's your fault." Kaede replied. "You influence everyone around the world. And besides, there's no way anyone on this planet could have thought we'd end up in this situation. There's no way anyone on this planet would've thought that this situation would happen to anyone. Besides, if I never would've been scouted, I wouldn't have met you, right?"

"Well, you're right," She said, smiling.

Kaede stared at her and couldn't get over how cute she was.

"Of course I am!" she replied. "But you're even more cute than I am!"

"Huh?" Kaede asked. "Did I say that out loud?"

"No, I'm psychic!"

"P-Psychic?" I stuttered.

"No, I'm joking. I just have really good intuition."

Kaede chuckled.

"Anyways, to answer your first question, being famous is kind of hard and kind of fun. Whenever I go out, I always get recognized. Not that I dislike my fans, of course, but I'm always interrupted whenever I try to do anything in public. Like you saw at the airport yesterday, people literally stampede over to me to try and get a selfie or an autograph. It's flattering, but it's really tiring. And of course, shop clerks always try to give me things on the house. If it's a one time thing, I'd probably take it. But when every other place I go to offers me free stuff, I just can't do it."

"I see," Kaede replied.

"What about you?" she asked. "I mean, you've openly admitted that you're a fan. But I don't know much about you."

"Oh, I'm not someone that famous," she replied. "I'm pretty well-known in my hometown. But it's not like I release music to the public. Go one town over and no one's heard of me. I just play live at competitions and talent shows. Soon, the word began to spread about my piano playing skills and some enthusiasts got in touch with me. Then, those enthusiasts began introducing me to more famous people so I could play at gatherings or shows abroad. There was one time I was invited to play for royalty in some European country."

"That's amazing!" she asked. "What country?"

"It was a small one. I think it was Novo… Novo… I forget the name. But it was really amazing. I also played in Austria and France in a few clubs for rich people."

"That's amazing!" she said.

"Well, it's not as amazing as your accomplishments." Kaede replied. "I mean, you're world-famous!"

"I'm also famous in… other ways." she muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

* * *

They had gone up every floor and checked out every single computer. No dice. Right now, they were standing on the top floor.

Kaede exhaled. "That was a fun way to waste two hours."

"It wasn't a total waste," Sayaka replied, smiling. "We got to chat."

"That's right," she said. "And I definitely enjoyed having a chance to casually talk with you. But in terms of getting out of here, we couldn't find anything that even leads to a hint."

"What about that door?" Sayaka asked, pointing to a door at the end of the room, decorated with green ones and zeros with a matrix-like background. "Chihiro talked about it earlier."

"May as well try it," she said. Kaede walked up to it and grabbed the handle and pushed down. "Nope. It's locked." Not like she expected that it'd open anyways.

"Puhuhu!" Monokuma shouted, popping up from under a desk. "There are nukes in there."

Nukes? She felt her hands clam up. "There are bombs in there?"

"Hah, nah." he said. "That's actually an Ultimate Research Lab."

"Ultimate Research lab?" Sayaka asked. "What are those?"

"Learn from the name, idiots. They're specific rooms that we set up around this city meant to help you urchins hone your talents while you're here."

"Then, what's this one?" Sayaka asked.

She stared at the door for a few more seconds. The numbers and decorations all pointed to one person.

"This is Chihiro's lab, right?" she asked.

"Bingo! On the nose!" He loudly shouted, as if he were proud of them. "This is the Ultimate Programmer Lab. I should have the preparations done tomorrow morning."

As she thought more and more about it, she felt herself getting kind of excited. "Do we have labs too? Does mine have a piano?"

"Woah, hold your horses!" he said. "Everyone here in this city has a lab attributed to their talent. But that doesn't mean you have access to all the labs right off the bat! In this district, I've only set up four, all of which will become available tomorrow morning."

"Then, how do we get to the other labs?" Kaede asked.

"You just need to wait. They'll all become available sooner or later. But whether or not you'll be able to use your lab before you die is another story. I'll give you a tip though; if you want to find a specific lab, try to find places that are somewhat associated with the talent. For example, if we had an Ultimate Nurse and I wanted to set up an Ultimate Nurse Lab, you'd look inside a hospital to find it."

"Oh, I see." Kaede said. "But we'll all have the chance to use our labs. None of us are dying."

"Puhuhu… you say that… but are you really positive that zero of the fifteen other people here are at least thinking of it?"

She believed in her classmates. In her mind, there was no way anyone here was tempted to kill just to escape. Everyone would find a way to escape together.

"Kaede," Sayaka said. "Let's get out of here."

"Right," Kaede replied. Sayaka's hand took hers as she dragged her into the elevator.

"..."

"..."

"Who thought it'd be a good idea to play this song in an elevator?"

* * *

After spending most of her time with the idol, Kaede returned to the safe and somewhat comforting atmosphere of her room.

"Augh," she said, collapsing onto her bed. Even though she's only been up for around five hours, she felt completely beat.

"I shouldn't sleep." she muttered. She still had to get to the meeting tomorrow morning, and she knew if she slept now she wouldn't be able to sleep throughout the night. There was still the library and supermarket to look at.

"Eh, might as well check out the supermarket," she said. "There's bound to be something useful there."

But as she got up, she remembered what Kaito said this morning about this room being a "smart room." As she glanced around the condo, she noticed a black screen, void of any light, sitting on the wall next to the door. That's the control panel, right?

Touching her finger to the panel seemed to activate it, as light began emitting from it.

**Kaede's Room Settings:**

**Light Schedule: Light Switch Only** , On at Night, Always On, Motion Sensors

 **Temperature:** Hot, Warm, **No Adjustment** , Cool, Cold

 **Windows: Manual Operation Only** , Open during Daytime

**Alarm: None**

These settings were simple enough to understand. She flipped the temperature to "Cool" and window settings to "Open during Daytime".

As she confirmed her settings, she heard a squeak behind her. That must've been the windows opening.

"That should be good," she said, grabbing her handbook and making her way to the supermarket.

* * *

The supermarket was filled with shelves over shelves of goods.

"Woah," she said, staring at the merchandise. This floor looked like a grocery store, but there was so much food here!

She failed to sense a presence walking up behind her.

"Ibuki thinks this place is amazing!" Ibuki said, slamming her hands onto her shoulders and nearly knocking her to the ground.

"Y-You scared me," Kaede replied. "Don't do that."

"Haha…" Ibuki replied, sticking her tongue out.

"This is supposed to be a supermarket, but what else do they have here? Have you looked around?"

"Oh, Ibuki's walked around! The higher floors have more general stuff like sports equipment and other boring crap. But there's no music stuff! What's Ibuki gonna do? She wants to shred her fingertips over some strings and let her soul out!"

"Uhh…" Kaede replied. "Maybe you can hit some steel pans in the kitchen?"

"..." The musician stared up at the sky. "Oh, good idea! Seeya!"

In just a few seconds, she heard the door click behind her. That girl was definitely something.

Kaede walked down the aisles to see almost every kind of food you could imagine. There were snack foods like chips and candy, canned foods, spices, and fresh produce and meats. It was like a large-scale grocery store, but there was an escalator on the far end. But she spotted one thing that didn't exactly belong in a supermarket. A giant ceiling-mounted machine gun, pointing right in front of the employee entrance, just like Tsumugi described. But words couldn't describe how threatening this thing looked.

"Graah," Kaede grumbled. There was no doubt that there was something here, but she knew what would probably happen if she were to go in. With no other options, she made her way over to the escalator.

After riding it upwards, she saw a new area filled with sporting goods. They had a baseball section, soccer section, golf section, a bunch of sports-related equipment there.

Standing next to the baseball gear was their very own Ultimate Baseball Star.

"Leon," she said, walking up to him.

"Oh, hey," he replied, giving her a forced smile that just screamed "Go out with me"

"Not a chance," she said.

"Huh? I didn't even ask anything yet."

"I could tell from your face that you were going to try and hit on me."

"You're the one who knocked me to the ground," Leon protested.

"I told you, my legs gave out. It was an accident." Kaede said. "Can you forget about that for me?"

"Nope, that's ingrained into my memory," he replied. "Anyways, don't you think it's strange they gave us access to all this equipment? I mean, it's not like we have a field or open area to use it for."

"I'm not much of a sports person," she said. "Anyways, I guess we could use this stuff at the airport. The runway's pretty large and there's a huge amount of nothing there."

"That's not a bad idea." he said. "Thanks. I like you."

"Um...yeah. Okay." She replied. Hanging out with Leon was… awkward. Judging from what she's seen so far, Leon was one of those "skirt chasers".

"I'm sure they're meant to murder people." a voice said, coming from around the aisle.

"Oh, it's you," Leon said. The purple-haired boy rounded the corner.

"Neeheehee…" Kokichi replied.

Kaede crossed her arms. "What'd you say about murdering people?"

Kokichi laughed. "Neeheehee! Of course this sports equipment is meant for murder! Why else would it be here?"

"You're a little late in our conversation," Leon said.

"Yeah, I just arrived." he said. "I heard mentions of the sports equipment, and that's the first thing I thought of. I didn't want to yell across the store, though."

"Yell as much as you want. No one cares." Leon said.

"We just said that we could use the sports equipment to play some sports at the airport," Kaede said. "What's with you and your fascination with this death game?"

"Well, duh," he replied. "Because this game is fun, of course!"

"This is fun for you?" Kaede asked. "You've been saying that an awful lot."

"Well, of course. Games are meant to be played."

"You're insane," Leon said. "Can we keep a leash on this kid?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Get out." Leon said.

"Okay, okay, fine." he said. "If you beat me in rock paper scissors."

"This is ridiculous." Kaede said, hand on her forehead.

"Alright, you wanna go? Let's go." Leon said, stretching.

Kaede stared at him in disappointment. "I don't think you need to stretch for rock paper scissors."

"Okay, let's go!" Kokichi said. Leon and Kokichi readied their fists as they struck them against their fists three times. Leon sent out scissors as Kokichi made a gun formation.

"Gun beats scissors. You lose."

"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't pick gun!" Leon shouted.

"I didn't say we were playing by the rules, neeheehee."

"You little shit!"

"Fine. You wanna go again?" Kokichi asked.

"Hell yeah I do!" Leon replied. "No guns, no knives, no random tools. Just rock, paper, scissors!"

"Fine, fine."

"Okay, rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Leon shouted. Leon thrust out a paper as Kokichi also sent out an outstretched paper.

"Again! This is fun!" Kokichi snickered.

"It's not going to be as fun when I beat you!" Leon shouted. "Go!"

Leon thrust out rock as Kokichi also thrust out rock.

"Fine. Again!" Leon shouted. "I'll get you one of these times!"

"Neeheehee… we'll see about that."

* * *

"Okay, how are you doing this?" Leon asked.

Kokichi hid a snicker. "What?"

"We've gone at this so many times and neither of us have won. I'm not doing anything, so it has to be you."

"Neeheehee… you caught me!"

"You little… what was the point of that?" Leon shouted.

He smiled. "Do I need a reason?"

"That was just for the sake of being pointless?"

"Whatever, I'll leave now!" He turned and left.

Leon looked around. "Huh? Where'd Piano Chick go?

"Huh? Oh, her. She left ten minutes ago."

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: I have made the decision to write the majority of this story on my own before I continue updating, so it's been put on a hiatus for now. I know it's going to be a long wait, but I figured that writing a killing game fic like this requires a meticulous amount of planning and I could easily make plotholes and disrupt the flow of the fic if I were to continue updating chapters as I write them. Hope you understand, and thank you for the support.


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